Potsdam, NY – Despite hitting just .109 through four sets, the Clarkson University Volleyball team was able to find enough offense to score a four-set win over the University of Rochester 25-16, 13-25, 25-20, 25-23 on Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights improved to 10-4 overall while Rochester dropped to 9-5. The Yellowjackets will face Williams College at 2:00 pm on Saturday, while Clarkson will close out the mini-tournament with a match against Williams at 5:30 pm.

The first two sets were complete opposites in one team clearly outclassed the other. In the opener, Clarkson hit .267 and held the Yellowjackets to just eight kills with a .130 hitting percentage. The second set was all Rochester, as Sara Apanavicius took a reasonable close set and pushed the Jackets' lead to double figures by keeping Clarkson off balance with tough serves. The third set was a game of brief runs, with one team rattling off a four-point run only to be matched by the other in the early going. After that, it was continual ties as the two teams knotted up 10 times in the third with the final one coming at 19-19. Clarkson took advantage of some miscues by Rochester down the stretch, including a rotational mistake that gave the set to the Golden Knights.

With the momentum seemingly on their side, the Knights jumped out to a 9-2 lead and maintained a significant advantage into the late teens, exposing Rochester to a 17-8 margin. A kill by Shira Katz ended the run for Clarkson and began a streak of strong serving from Nina Baek. Rochester scored nine points with Baek serving after the Katz kill but Clarkson ended the Jackets' run on a kill from Jillian Saenz. Key aces by Saenz and Rachel Reusch proved to be the difference and Savannah Peters ended the set and the match with a kill from the outside.

Saenz finished with 28 assists, five digs, four aces and three block assists to lead Clarkson. The Knights provided a spread out offense, with Rachel Aird recording nine kills on just 19 swings and Maddie Bredehoeft chipping in eight kills. Reusch had seven kills and five total blocks, while Katrina Lane added six kills and nine digs. Kate Isakesen led the team with 15 digs.

For Rochester, Clara Martinez scored 11 kills to go along with an impressive nine blocks (two solo, seven assists) and Alexandra Goldman hit .417 with eight kills and three errors in 12 swings. Aimee Kohler recorded a match-high 38 assist, while Meghan Connor produced 22 digs. Baek also tossed in 15 digs.